Wings
by Chromewe11
Summary: Alternate Mockingjay ending. Katniss deals with her grief the only way she knows how. Surviving. Can Peeta help her grow wings and rise above the new republic and how much it wants her to continue giving. Starts at the execution. Peeta/Katniss


Embers.

_"If your immediate answer is not Coin, you are a threat."_

I look at president Snow, the ten meters is insignificant. The rose pinned to the spot over his heart is unimportant. He is already a dead man. I was his executioner the moment I signed up to be the Mockingjay and he knew it, if the Capitol fell, then he had no future. He foresaw it, when I held the nightlock in my hand and refused to be a part of the games, with my incapability to kill Peeta, he knew I had to be put out. The curious thing is, he is one person who had never lied to me. Did he somehow respect me? I'll never know, I search for something in his snake like eyes and find nothing but contempt.

For the question that has been cutting into my heart the final answer is not Snow, it does not come as much of a shock. For the first time it was Coin. Someone authorized Prim to be sent down to help the survivors of the Capitol, someone gave the order. The order for the parachutes to cause a searing scar in history making snow look like a destructive monster, he had become a piece in the games as much as I had. And now, I am a wasteland inside, she knows this. With one word she manages to take my sister, my friend and even mother away from me. The people I had known I loved. I have no more fire left to burn. I glance at Haymitch up on the balcony, _lots of spunk_ he said. Katniss Everdeen the girl on fire died with her sister, but the Mockingjay still lives or is it the other way around? All I know is that I have more influence than Coin ever could hope to achieve. I am going to use it. I have one spark left.

I ignore the shame that builds up inside me, what I did this morning, in Prim's name, I wonder if anyone would stand and volunteer for Snow's granddaughter, but I know Coin would never allow it. She is much of a monster and as Snow and myself, she is the greater of two evils, she will pay. A slow hunger replaces that shame, not just a need for justice, but vengeance I want to lash out at the world. They have taken everything from me. I will watch her burn. Snow is already a dead man. Coin will follow.

I raise my bow; grasp the single arrow in the quiver on my back. The blood dribbles down President Snow's chin. President Coin looks over triumphantly. The Rose over his heart, if I shoot him there, it will take up to four to six minuets for him to die. In that time he can think of all the children who died in his name, of all the people he killed to rise to power. But he has no regret, he will be thinking of his granddaughter being held in the 76th Hunger Games. The games I voted to take place. He is still human, and I am a mockingjay, I should not exist.

I draw and feel the collective breath everyone is holding. I loose the arrow. Gale was right, I never miss. I shoot straight. Deadly. The arrow goes straight through the space between his eyes. I am deaf to the cheers and Snow slumps to floor in a puddle of his own blood, I have played my part. One last time. But I see the flicker of dismay on Coin's face. Gale gives me a knowing look, he is restraining his anger and we both know why. I gave Snow a mercy kill, he felt nothing. His death was immediate. For a second I thought I would kill Coin, I so very almost nearly did. She will pay. But that will come later.

"Goodnight." I whisper and my bow stops humming to me. It slips out my hand causing a silent clang. But everyone has already noticed. I turn toward the crowds, and I fight the tears in my eyes. The soft leather soles of my boots make no sounds. Always the hunter.

I clear my throat, it is so dry it probably sounds like a coughing fit. My gaze finds the people of Panem, everyone is looking at me in wonder, fear or awe, every camera, I am on every television screen. Finally I find my voice.

"My name-" What if what i am doing is wrong? But then again everything else is wrong. i realise I should show no remorse, I no longer care.  
"My name is Katniss Everdeen, I am 17 years old. My home is District 12, District 12 was destroyed. I am the Mockingjay. I am the executioner of President Snow."

There is only silence; I look at Haymitch unsure whether I should continue. He nods at me and smiles gently. I ignore Coin's glare as she tries to order some captain to order someone to detain me. But when I sing, the birds listen.

"I would like to ask the people of Panem, If this is what you wanted?" Some cheer, some shout yes but they all nod, and so do I.

"For the last year, one of the things that has been driving me so for to push so much for the victory we hold today was the pleasure of killing President Snow for his crimes against humanity. For all his threats, for the lives he stole. He took so much from the districts, from Panem, from me." I try desperately to think like Peeta does in front of an audience. Then I realise there is no need, I just have to be my self. I can see Cinna in the front of the crowd, he is smiling and I miss him so much, he is holding Prim's hand and Finnick is there too with his arm around Rue protectively. I do not shake my head of these hallucinations, I have longed to see them again in somewhere other than my nightmares.

"i know most of you have probably lost more than I, and suffered a so much more pain. So maybe I do not have the right to claim Snow's life. But President Snow took so much away from me that i was consumed by that desire. I lost my frist friend in the Capitol, Cinna, my stylist. The brave man who envisioned the girl on fire, my dearest friends Rue and Finnick who no one could help but love both suffering the only fates the hunger games had to offer. And finally he took Peeta away from me, my lover, my husband. He turned him against me, took everything good out of the boy with the bread. So much he forgot about the baby we lost."  
There are tears running down my face, I feel weak, I hate the lying but it is necessary. Peeta was right, I am manipulative. They do not need to know the truth. I see the crowd again some teary eyed. I look to see Peeta, silent and still as a statue; he gives the slightest of nods.

"What I truly do not understand is why he bombed the children and refugees of the Capitol. It did not make sense. He is cruel and calculating, but what did he have to gain by it other than a kick in the rebel's face? Nothing. He has paid for his crimes. But I still seek justice. Because there was one person who made me whole who was taken away from me that day. The very reason we are all stand here today, she started off this whole chain reaction because the odds were not in her favour."

I have to remain strong, I think of it as if I am still talking to Cinna in that interview. There are a few gasps of realisation within the crowd who realise who I am talking about. I see on a screen Coins eyes widen as to what is coming next. She knows, she knows she is guilty. She thought I could be contained but now all she can do is watch the fire spread. I raise my voice from the whisper that was amplified for the whole of Panem.

"1 out of thousands of thousands. My beautiful little sister. Prim, Sweet little Prim. She did not need to die! Not one of those people, doctors, parameds, nurses, rescue officers who came down in their hundreds to help the people of the capitol deserved to die. They were utterly helpless against the bombs that had rained down on them, just to illustrate how Snow knew no mercy.

"President Coin played us all like pieces in her own game, just so she can sit at the power of the Capitol. This morning she proposed a 76th Hunger Game with the children of the Capitol. The very thing we sparked to fight against, the death of innocent children, for what? Entertainment? To prove a point? To keep the Capitol in line?

"I do not agree, I do not condone, all of this is wrong. I would see her stand trial for war crimes. As she watched and waited for the opportune moment for her to sweep in as the districts suffered the casualties. Where was Coin when Rue died and district 11 went into an uprising? Where was she when an old man was shot in the head for singing the tune Where was Coin when district 10's hospital was bombed with the sick and wounded still in there?" There is so much emotion running through me I am terrified my scars will burst open to let the flood of agony, anger and grief onto the streets. My head is spinning so much I want to sit down, but I continue.

"She is no more fit to lead this country than Snow! I would see her stand trial!" I hear my voice ring out.

My fire is gone; it is all I can do to stand there and watch people cheer at me demanding Coin's head, screaming my name. I watch the balcony as Coin screams at the guards to unhand her. They look uneasy but see how the crowd is reacting. Haymitch looks solemn as she is dragged away. This was all necessary; I feel the strength in my legs starting to go. But before I buckle over Peeta is next to me and gripping my hand lending me his strength just as we did in the opening ceremony. I catch Gale's eye. He knows now I can't hold him responsible I have already pointed my finger of blame.

I begin to cry, I let Peeta try to lead me away from all the insect trying the question me, my motives and if all of it is true. One man asks me how I think prim would feel about what I had just done, before I could turn to slap him to claw my nails down his face to kick him in the gut and scream obscenities Peeta had already let go of my hand, hit him straight in the jaw knocking the man out cold. I burst into another round of tears, I am the violent one. Somewhere we stop and i slump against the wall as he cradles me. The flames have died down, the embers have burnt out.


End file.
